Two digital radio stations to close

Thursday 10 January 2008 12.35 EST
First published on Thursday 10 January 2008 12.35 EST

Digital radio will suffer a double blow this weekend with the closure of two national digital stations, Oneword and Core.

GCap Media's music station Core is expected to close tomorrow, while UBC's spoken word outfit Oneword, whose future has long been in doubt, will cease broadcasting on Saturday.

Both stations were broadcast via digital audio broadcasting (DAB) on Digital One, the national digital radio multiplex majority-owned by GCap.

In a dramatic scaling back of GCap's digital offerings, its digital music station Life is also set to close while its chillout station, Chill, has been removed from the Sky Digital platform. It continues to broadcast on regional DAB multiplexes and online.

GCap's other digital-only stations are TheJazz and Planet Rock, which both remain on Digital One. TheJazz, which has just celebrated its first birthday, has upped its capacity on Digital One and now broadcasts in stereo.

Oneword, which was launched by UBC in 2000, was part-owned with Channel 4 until the broadcaster sold its 51% stake, bought for £1 million in 2005, back to UBC for £1 in the run-up to Christmas.

UBC, as the sole shareholder, will close the station, which plays a mixture of books, comedy, drama and reviews, on Saturday.

Oneword had 151,000 listeners in the third quarter of last year, according to the latest Rajar figures, but its prospects suffered a serious blow after the BBC launched its own spoken word digital station, BBC7.

"Unfortunately Oneword will no longer be broadcasting from Saturday January 12," said a statement on the Oneword website.

"We are genuinely grateful to all our listeners for their loyal and continued support over the last eight years. We wish you a very happy 2008."

GCap's Core, which launched in 1999, became a jukebox music station in March last year when it took its presenters off air. It had 122,000 listeners in the third quarter of last year.

Digital One is in negotiation with a number of potential operators about filling the vacant berths on the national multiplex.

· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332.

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".